The weeks preceding the long ANZAC weekend were quite exceptional for this time of the year. You could be forgiven for thinking it was still summertime.

Those who managed to come to Tocumwal to fly experienced lift to 8,000' with cumulous clouds dotting the sky and forming cloud streets we usually only dream of.  John Lynch flew his Pilatus from Toc to Jerilderie and then South almost to Shepparton and back under cloud streets without any thermalling.  Now that's real flying!!

Now everyone knows it never rains in Tocumwal, that is, until you set a date for a gliding competition!  You guessed it, the competition day was a washout but we were still able to have an enjoyable social BBQ followed by a general meeting.  Many thanks to all the helpers at the BBQ as many hands make light work.  We had a very tasty variety of salads thanks to all our good cooks and Mike and Bob did a great job on the BBQ.

The following two days gave us reasonable flying conditions and although they couldn't match the previous weeks we were still able to have some good flights and pilots were able to hone their thermalling skills.  Bob Brodie had the longest flight with two hours and forty three minutes and Mark Hunt had the most flights and has made fantastic progress since going solo.  He also entertained us with his models once again.

>Enthusiastic workers on Sunday morning

Don ald Ashton took his LS4 out for a run and Ross Oehms flew the ASW15.  Neil McRury came up from Melbourne and flew his DG600 and Geoff Tait flew IUH.  Earlier in the month Anthony, Ian and Nathan Moss all flew the Kookaburra on Junior's Day and Lothar, Ingo and I did some training flights.  Mike Toth flew his IS28 and Graham Hook had his first air experience flight in a glider - 40 minutes of fantastic sightseeing over the Murray that he will never forget.  The IS28 just wouldn't come down in the wonderful conditions.

And Bernie Sizer took his friend, Phil, for almost an hour of soaring in the IS28.

But the highlight of the weekend was when Ingo sent Peter Hohaus solo again after about twenty years of no gliding.  Congratulations Peter - as you can see in the picture he is a very happy man!

We celebrated on Sunday night with a meal at the Terminus Hotel.

Peter's son Daniel also had a flight in the Kookaburra with Ingo and his mum Boon took most of the great pictures in this E-news.

As you can see it has been a very busy month with many pilots taking advantage of the good conditions.  This has been a great start for our new tug and our tow pilots are please with its performance.  Many thanks to our tow pilots, Bill Harvie, Don Escott , John Lynch and Geoff Gowty.  Without them we couldn't get off the ground.

One of our juniors, Jesse Price, would like to be a pilot and is looking for work experience in the aviation industry.  It would be for two weeks in November and he has accommodation on the Mornington Peninsula.  The only airport he couldn't get to would be Avalon.  If anyone has a contact that could possibly help Jesse out please let me so that Jesse can follow it up. The school requires this information as soon as possible.  If you would like more information then please give me a ring on 0358 743 052.

Happy soaring

Judy Renner